Stifar International Conference 2026 (2nd SINACON 2026)

Leprosy is a chronic infection caused by Mycobacterium leprae that attacks the skin, peripheral nerves, and other organs, with the main treatment using Multidrug Therapy (MDT) consisting of rifampicin, dapsone, and clofazimine. MDT is effective for treating leprosy, but dapsone often causes Dapsone Hypersensitivity Syndrome (DHS), resulting in patient non-compliance. This study aims to assess the characteristics of leprosy patients and analyze the relationship between beliefs and the level of treatment adherence of leprosy patients in Kuningan, West Java. This study used a retrospective observational study in leprosy patients aged ≥18 years who received dapsone, involving 58 leprosy patients. Analysis of the relationship between patient beliefs and medication adherence using interviews with the Medication Adherence Rating Scale 5 (MARS-5) and Beliefs about Medicines Questionnaire (BMQ) questionnaires which were analyzed statistically using the Pearson correlation. The results revealed that the majority of respondents were female (53.4%), aged between 46 and 60 years (34.5%), had an educational level below high school (98.3%) and were diagnosed with Multi-Basilar (MB) leprosy (87.9%). 72.41% of patients had positive beliefs about their treatment among the main variables, and 82.76% had high compliance. The correlation test shows the coefficient value of r = -0.12 with the significance of p = 0.36. The study concludes that there is no significant relationship between the level of patient confidence and compliance with treatment in this population. The results show the need for further studies on other factors such as family support and education for patients who still hold negative beliefs.